Amid speculation that Malawi might severe its 41-year-long diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China, Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) James Huang (
Speaking on condition of anonymity, ministry sources said the effort by Huang indicated that Taipei might be able to salvage ties with its longtime ally.
Huang had planned to visit Malawi last month when the ministry learned that China had offered it a US$6 billion financial package in exchange for diplomatic recognition.
In response, a delegation of Malawi officials was dispatched to China later last month.
MOFA instead sent Vice Minister Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆) and African Affairs Department Director Chang Yun-ping (張雲屏) to deal with the rumors that Malawi would end diplomatic relations.
Late last month, several local newspapers in Malawi ran reports that Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika had sanctioned severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan while a delegation to Beijing led by Presidential Affairs Minister Davis Katsonga was set to sign a memorandum of understanding to pave the way for establishing diplomatic ties with China.
Mutharika, on the other hand, assured Taiwan during recent talks that his country's diplomatic relations with Taiwan remained stable, the ministry said.
Huang made a public call at the ministry's year-end press conference on Friday, saying that Malawi should "choose wisely" between Taiwan and Beijing.
He said Beijing was casting its covetous eyes on Malawi's natural resources, while relations with Taiwan offered trust, dependability and unwavering friendship that take the improvement of the living standards of Malawian into account.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS